CODOH is an Idea

The ADL's recent publication, "Fighting Holocaust Denial in Campus Newspaper Advertisements" casts the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH) as having one member, that is, Bradley Smith. CODOH however is not an organization with members or employees. It has no National Chair, National Director, no Deputies and certainly no assistant directors!

To better understand what CODOH is, I borrow the following with slight alteration from Rodrigo Mendoza:

CODOH is an idea. CODOH is every man who has ever stood up for what he has believed in. CODOH is every man who has taken a stand when he saw injustice-- regardless of the cost. CODOH is an idea and ideas, unlike men cannot be imprisoned.

CODOH is heroes of the past both from history and from fiction. CODOH is William Tyndale shouting at the fiery stake for the Lord to open the King of England's eyes. CODOH is Dietrich Bonhoeffer hanging in Flossenbürg for standing up to a dictatorial regime. CODOH is Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.. CODOH stood up to the Pope at the Diet of Worms and said, "Here I stand." CODOH is an artist, but it's work has been called "degenerate."

CODOH is Winston Smith. CODOH is Howard Roarke. CODOH is Guy Montag with a hidden library. CODOH will not renounce it's values and accept slavery. CODOH will stand up for the principles that we were taught as children. As Americans, we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have been taught to stand up when we see injustice. We stand with David against Goliath. We stand with the Jews against the Gestapo. We stand with the Communists against the McCarthyite witch-hunt. We stand with African Americans against the Klan. We stand with the soldiers who have died for propaganda and political lies-- on the fields of Flanders, on the USS Arizona, in Korea and Vietnam and in Iraq.

Today there is no group of people more villainized and defamed than revisionists. The governments of the world stand poised to root them out, to bring an end to their "insidious" ideas. Their jails can hold men, but they cannot hold ideas. Their fires can burn books, but not ideas. Their power comes by force. Our power comes from truth and freedom. We are willing to take the chance that you too might be stirred to action. If the battle is joined, we cannot lose. Of course, this is no battle of might but rather of ideas. CODOH's fight, our fight, is for that great value which if known, will set us all free.

Who is CODOH you ask? CODOH is that value and that idea.

New Resource to Confront Holocaust Denial on Campus

[From the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith]

October 21, 2009

In response to the appearance of Holocaust denial advertisements in American college newspapers, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Life unveiled a new resource to help students respond.

A new resource guide, Fighting Holocaust Denial in Campus Newspaper Advertisements, is available on the League’s Web site and is being widely distributed throughout the United States by ADL and Hillel.

“Holocaust denial ads are not only extremely offensive, but unequivocally false,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director and a Holocaust survivor. “This is not a First Amendment issue; newspaper editors routinely choose to accept or reject advertisements. Would editors publish ads claiming the world is flat, or that slavery never existed?”

“Holocaust Denial advertisements are an affront to truth and an insult to the memory of those who were murdered by the Nazis,” said Wayne L. Firestone, Hillel President.

The joint ADL-Hillel guide was developed in response to a series of campus newspaper advertisements placed by Bradley Smith and his Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH). In his 2009 campaign, Smith successfully placed advertisements in more than a dozen campus papers, with an ad most recently appearing in the Harvard Crimson.

Fighting Holocaust Denial provides historical background on Holocaust denial and a profile of Smith and the CODOH. The guide provides legal analysis of the First Amendment and newspaper advertising policies, and offers actionable strategies for responding when Holocaust denial ads are published.

ADL and Hillel recommend that editorial staffs develop and implement policies defining acceptable advertising standards, such as those maintained by the newspaper industry, which they can reference when declining hateful ad submissions.

Fighting Holocaust Denial in Campus Newspaper Advertisements may be accessed here. For more information or to obtain a print copy of the publication, please contact the Anti-Defamation League at education@adl.org.

(YWN Desk - NYC)

CNN Reports on Harvard's Questionable Advertising Policy

09 September 2009

(CNN) -- Harvard University, one of America's premiere academic institutions, is coming under fire for running an advertisement in its campus newspaper questioning the reality of the Holocaust.Recently named for the second straight year as the No. 1 school in U.S. News & World Report rankings of American colleges, Harvard is known for its rigorous scholarly standards and prestigious reputation.

On Tuesday, however, The Harvard Crimson, in what it said was an error, ran the Holocaust-questioning advertisement, which had been rejected by the paper over the summer.
[….]

It is widely accepted that approximately 5.7 million of Europe's 7.3 million Jews perished during the war. In total, historians say, between 11 million and 17 million people were killed by the Nazi regime, including religious and political opponents, ethnic Poles, Romani, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, homosexuals and people with disabilities.
[….]

Smith said he is not surprised by the reaction because "it's taboo, and has been taboo from the beginning. When you break a culture-wide taboo, supported in theory and practice by the state, the university and the press, you create a fuss."

Robert Trestan, civil rights counsel for the Anti-Defamation League of New England, …. finds it shocking that such an advertisement would fall through the cracks, as Child said. … He said his organization will continue to work with college newspaper editors to educate schools that they don't have an obligation to publish questionable advertising.